Generation Rent has launched a new mission statement, laced with comments about “the staggering speed of rent rises” and the need for rent controls.

The statement – posted this week on the activist group’s website – says the slew of anti-landlord measures introduced in recent years does not mean it has achieved all its goals.

Indeed, the group says: “No-one could look at the state of renting in the UK today and consider it a job done.”

It continues: “From barriers to accessing new tenancies, to poor treatment once in a home, and greater risk of eviction or unaffordable rent rises, renting in the UK is disproportionately challenging for certain groups including those receiving benefits, minority ethnic people, care leavers and migrant people. That is why a universal right to a home is so important.”

On rents, it claims rises in recent years have “gone totally unchecked in most of the UK, with the typical renter spending a third of their pre-tax salary on rent.“ It then claims: “Limiting rent rises is therefore common sense and already happens in Scotland and many similar countries abroad. Across the UK we are already used to government intervention where private providers cannot be trusted to offer a fair price for essentials. Just as there is an energy price cap in place to help people pay ‘a fairer price’ on our essential bills, it must be recognised that our homes are also essential and too often unfairly priced.”

The activists also make clear that Labour’s Renters Rights Bill – which draws on Generation Rent policies – is only a temporary staging post in the march for renters’ power. The new statement says: “Any long-term strategy should focus on the impact of evictions, lawful and illegal, and put measures in place to prevent evictions from forcing anyone into debt, poverty or homelessness. If we cannot end evictions altogether, it is high time tenants were compensated for moves outside our control.”

The group demands “rapid improvements to the energy efficiency of our homes” while protecting renters from any knock-on effect from the costs incurred by landlords.

And the statement concludes: “This might seem like a wacky thought, but renters could be the envy of homeowners. Buying (and selling) a home is an arduous process which leaves home owners without the flexibility that renting gives you. If renters also paid affordable rents for good quality homes, and didn’t have the fear of an eviction looming on the horizon, then it wouldn’t be a stretch to imagine homeowners looking on wistfully from over the garden fence.”